Such a sad sad loss today...

Today we lost two members of the Coon Hollow Farm security team. Our beloved "Jesse" (second from the left) and "Charlie" (third from the left). They both came to us years ago as rescues with broken stories of abuse. We are beyond heartbroken but age was not on their sides. Such beautiful souls that touched our hearts and made life a much better place because they were in them. We will miss them terribly. Our farm has been through a lot of loss lately but the hardest ones have been loosing these two wonderful souls...

Tools of the beekeeper

 I am lucky enough as a beekeeper to have an observation hive I manage at the Nature Center where I work. The queen in there is going on her 3rd year!

 The queen in there is amazing. These bees have a whole Nature Center to forage in, pesticide free and are incredibly healthy! In this picture you can see a whole frame of brood (baby bees).

 The secret to these are very different than the Langstroth hives. They have 3 1/2 frames and have to be constantly emptied. I just recently had to take some bees out and placed them in this Nuc hive, tape it up and bring them home to my hive.

The hive that I wintered over was struggling to rebound from the winter and even though I did find brood, adding more brood was certainly a plus for this hive.

 I emptied the new bees into the hive, but first I had to reverse the frames because the queen was in the upper chamber. By doing this it puts the hive in a more natural state.

I then placed newspaper over the older bees, put the second hive body on top and added the new bees. This gives the old bees a safe haven and the new bees a chance to accept the older bees and the queen. They will begin to accept her pheromones and chew thru the newspaper to get to her and take care of her. At this point the hive will merge and become stronger. I will post an update next week on the results!

Angora Bunny Fiber Obsessed!

 Ever since I got "Honey Bunny" our English Angora Rabbit, I just can't get enough of Angora rabbit fiber! It is the softest fiber on the planet hands down! Fine and light and soft and heavenly! I love to touch it, rub it or just hold it...

 Spin it, spin it, spin it...

 and just stare at it still wanting to touch it, rub it or just hold it...

Many years ago my friend Pam gave me two scrunchies that I would always wear on my wrist when I was stressed I would rub them and I have misplaced them, so I made some...

 I made some out of the Angora Rabbit fiber I had stashed for years You can just see the softness in this picture...

 I made some out of Alpaca (top), Suri Alpaca (middle) and Angora Rabbit (bottom)...

I went through my fiber stash and found it was a great way to use up those little balls of left over yarns that are not big enough to do much with. I actually found a tutorial on Youtube and they are so easy to make!

Skirting fleeces...

 Now that shearing is over it's time to go through the fleeces, clean them up and pick the junk out of them...

 These pictures are front and back of the generous pile the animals gave us. The screens are laid out and the fleeces put over them and pick pick I go...

 Here is our yearling lamb "Daisy"s fleece, so soft and beautiful! I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Just last week we sent off the fleeces from last year and the year before, but this years will go off very soon, guess I better get to spinning!!!

"Daisy"s fleece crimp

A sad passing...

This morning our beloved "Angus" passed away and the farm is very sad. We went down to do some chores and noticed he was not there. He had layed down under a tree up on the hill and peacefully passed away.
Angus came to us soon after we started the farm as a rescue with another who was very old. We never knew exactly how old they were, they came matted and starving. Our shearers thought they were a mix between an alpaca and llama but we never told him that because he thought he was an almighty llama! No more will he meet us at the gate in the morning or plunge his head into the grain bucket. No more will he give me his gentle kisses or let me give him a neck scratch. There will be a huge void in our hearts for our beloved gentle boy with the crystal blue eyes...

They're taking over!!!

 Look at them! They are simply shameless, taking over the floor of the greenhouse. Suning themselves, taking dust bathes on the floor of my greenhouse...

You can't turn your back on these girls, they will take over the world or at least the greenhouse! Me and "Honey Bunny" went up to do some planting and transferring and we couldn't get in! They're taking over I tell ya!

Shearing Day!

We started shearing day off with much humming and suspicion! They knew we were up to something. First we lured them down with grain, then we sealed their access to the hill...and then it was a hum fest!

  Royal was quickly dealt with to avoid excess spitting and injury. He is very protective of his herd and can get very dangerous. He is done first and quickly turned out...

 Everyone was brushed to get as much vegetable matter out as possible. It had also rained the evening before so it also dried them a bit.

 The shearers arrived and began with the sheep. Their fleeces were beautiful, especially our whether "Fred". I can't wait to get my hands on our lamb "Daisy's" fleece!

 Then it was time for the Alpacas. Here Jeremiah and Rick (on the right) with Tim on the left helping to prepare "Norman"...

 We had a lot of helpers who we could not get it done without, our son Timmy (on the rope), my mom and BillieJo on bagging and Sydnie on the gate...

 and there is me looking like a hot mess on trimming hooves...

 many of them needed to get their teeth done, the smell really smells worse than the dentist and if you look really close you can see smoke!

...afterwards they are naked, ready for the warm weather ahead and with a little snack they have forgotten the whole thing, except the humans who are still recovering!

So many eggs!

 Okay so I didn't collect for a couple of days! This time of year you can skip a day or two! When I collected I had over 60 eggs!

This basket was filled to the brim! With 26 hens laying that is a lot of eggs! So remember we have eggs for sale! Mostly extra large brown eggs with an occasional jumbo egg!

After long consideration, 3 separate lists suggestions, going back and forth with the family, we have chosen..............."Honey"! The name was just so perfect the first time I saw it for two reasons, it was our late dog "Amy"s nickname and I am a beekeeper! Her color will change to be like cream honey as well. We are in love with this little soul! She spent part of her day in the greenhouse eating the chickens hay and here she is joining us on a break from farm chores. I am so happy we decided to have her join our farm family!

A new member of the Coon Hollow Farm family!

 Here she is! Our new English Angora Rabbit. We are not quite ready to name her. We are hoping she will tell us what her name is...

 Here is her mom, just look at those lovely long ears, she is so beautiful!

 Our ride home was a long one and she did very well. When I got her home, settled her in, she took a long nap.

 We took her outside onto the deck and let her roam around on the picnic table for a bit. She was quite inquisitive, taking in what was all around her. Autumn is fascinated with her and we thought it would be Zoe!

 She stopped for a moment and struck a pose for me. She just knows she is a beauty! I have to say I am in love!

Just look at those ears! The tufts are already starting. That is my favorite thing about English Angoras, those adorable ears.

Of course I had to check out her fiber! She is the softest thing I have ever touched. I can't stop petting her and touching her! I am so happy that she has come to live with us. It has not been a decision I came to lightly. I have researched them and have been searching for rescues, but to no avail. I found a woman and her daughter who bred for the first time and loved their rabbits so much. They were informing and passionate about their rabbits. So the journey begins, exploring this beautiful little soul and the possibilities that her fiber can provide as she enriches our lives!

Changing of the guard...

 Sadly this morning when I opened the chicken coop, our old rooster "Big Red" had passed away during the night. He had a long tough road and was really coming along well. I was about to post new pics of his progress. I inspected the wound after his passing and it had healed so nicely. He was a tough bird and we are somewhat surprised by his passing...

so it's time for his son, "Red Jr" or as we have been calling him, "Studly". He has stepped up into the role of a rooster, watching over his flock. Always concerned of the slightest distress in one of his hens, and today stepped in to take over his fathers flock as well. In both pictures here he is on alert, watching his girls, all 26 of them! RIP "Big Red" I will never forget you and will always respect you!

Hand Carding a fiber of a different color...

... or should I say of a different fiber! Today I was going through my fiber stash and came across some Angora rabbit as well as some Chinchilla. Here I am using hand carders to pull apart the clumps.

 This is the Chinchilla that I got from my friend and the tool to the left is called a "mini-flicker. It helps to pull the clumps apart. I also use it to clean my drum carder. It is a priceless tool!

 Some clumpy white Angora, it is so soft! I think I am going to combine it with some dyed Alpaca to make an incredibly soft yarn as soon as I get it in spinning shape!
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Here is a different shade of Angora that I bought a long time ago and have had it stashed. It has shades of gray with white swirled into it. So off to do something different. Hoping for some creative inspiration to do it justice!

Opening the Hives...

 The weekend here was beautiful and the bees were flying in and out, perfect time for an inspection. I tried to get some shots of them bringing in pollen but was quickly being watched by the guard bees sooooo, I got out of there and decided to suit up....

 During the inspection it was clear that hive "A" was fine, but soon realized that there was no activity in"B" which was active just a few weeks ago. I soon learned that we had lost them. It seems they died from too much moisture in the hive. There were over 2000 bees dead, very sad. We knew we had lost "C" early in the winter.

 If you see the bigger bee with the yellow dot on her back, that is the queen! She is checking for cells that are empty and worthy of laying her eggs. In the upper cells you can see where she has already laid and they will cap it in a few days. The workers were busy cleaning and bringing in pollen. It is officially spring, the bees are back to work...

 In this picture, you can see the queen, workers and pollen in the cells. Just after I took this picture she dropped her abdomen in the cell and laid an egg! So our plan for the next coming weeks is to watch this hive. When we get into the next few weeks we will make a split from this hive to re-stock hive "B" and make a split from the Observation Hive at the Nature Center and re-hive both these hives. The is how hive "A" was produced last year which happened to be the only hive other than the Observation Hive to come through this brutal winter that we had.

The feeder was added to the hive with sugar, water and Honey-B-Healthy to boosts their immune systems as well as getting them fed while they are waking up and getting to the business of living!